July 31, 2015
CapitalPress.com
Subscribe to our weekly dairy or livestock email
newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters
13
Dairy/Livestock
Mid-year cattle inventory Pheasant
hunting as a
confirms herd expansion successful
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Year-over-year
increas-
es in both U.S. beef cows
and beef replacement heifers
show last year’s start of beef
herd expansion is on solid
ground.
Beef cows are up 750,000
head, 3 percent, over last
year’s July inventory, and
heifer replacements are up
300,000, 7 percent, according
to USDA National Agricul-
tural Statistics report released
July 24.
The increases were expect-
ed and confirm the industry
is in full blown, cyclical ex-
pansion, though it’s still just
starting, said Derrell Peel,
livestock marketing specialist
with Oklahoma State Univer-
sity.
And, he said, it’s been a
long time coming — about 20
years.
The last such expansion ta-
pered off after a cyclical peak
in 1996, followed by prices
that were telling the market
the beef herd had gotten too
big. Drought extended a nor-
mal liquidation period into
2004, he said.
A mini expansion in 2004
and 2005 was cut off in 2006
by tremendous shocks in in-
put prices — feed, fuel and
fertilizer — and poor returns
caused the liquidation to con-
tinue, he said.
The recession in 2008
and 2009 negatively affected
beef demand, and widespread
drought, particularly in the
Southern Plains, from 2011
through 2013 curtailed at-
tempts at rebuilding, he said.
“We spent most of about
18 years in liquidation mode,”
he said.
Those external factors led
to a beef herd that was getting
smaller than it needed to be
from a market sense, he said.
The resulting “tremen-
dous” prices in 2014 and im-
proved drought conditions,
which eliminated drought in
most of the country except the
West, fueled the start of ex-
pansion last year, he said.
Producers are responding
to basic price signals, but it’ll
take a couple of more years to
build the herd to the level it
needs to be to be compatible
with the market, he said.
All cattle and calves, in-
cluding dairy animals, are up
2.1 million from July 2014
and USDA expects the 2015
calf crop to increase 400,000
head, 1 percent, year over
year.
If realized, the calf crop
will be larger than the previ-
ous year for the second con-
secutive year, a growth not
seen since 1994-’95, live-
stock economists Ron Plain
and Scott Brown, University
of Missouri, reported in the
University’s Cattle Outlook
ranch enterprise
By DOUG WARNOCK
For the Capital Press
W
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
A beef cow grazes in pasture east of Rupert, Idaho, in early sum-
mer. The latest numbers from USDA show the country’s beef cattle
herd is in expansion mode after nearly 20 years.
report July 24.
But the initial effect of
herd rebuilding is even tighter
supplies of feeder cattle, and
2015 will be the low supply
point in this cycle, continuing
to squeeze feedlot operators,
Peel said.
There’s a bout a two year
lag to start seeing the effects
of expansion on beef produc-
tion. In the meantime, expan-
sion will continue in 2016,
much like 2015, he said.
Cattle on feed up, marketings lower
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
At 10.2 million head, the
number of cattle on feed in
large feedlots as of July 1 was
up 2 percent year over year,
according to USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Service.
That represents a 7 per-
cent increase in steers and
steer calves and a 7 percent
decrease in heifers and heifer
calves.
However, marketings, at
1.75 million head, continued
the year-over-year decline
seen since November 2013.
June marketings were down
163,000 head, or 5 percent,
from June of last year. It’s the
smallest June marketings since
the cattle on feed series began
in 1996, NASS reported.
Placements in June were
1.48 million, up 13,000 head
and 1 percent year over year,
NASS reported. June had one
more business day than June
2014.
But that doesn’t mean the
U.S. is producing more cattle;
total placements have been
down for the last six or sev-
en months, said Derrell Peel,
livestock marketing specialist
at Oklahoma State University.
Feedlots are holding cattle
longer to put on more weight
to balance high feeder cattle
costs with fed cattle prices.
Cattle on feed numbers look
higher because they are stay-
ing longer, he said.
Slaughter is down for the
year. Combined steer and
heifer slaughter is down about
6.8 percent year to date. That
includes an 11 percent de-
crease in heifer slaughter,
reflecting heifer retention for
herd rebuilding, he said.
Year-over-year
federal-
ly inspected cattle and calf
slaughter January through
June was down 1.09 million
head, with beef production
down 4 percent and veal pro-
duction down 20 percent,
NASS reported last week.
Total marketings of fed cat-
tle January through June were
down 5.9 percent and total
placements into feedlots were
down 5.5 percent, Peel said.
For the first six months of
2015, total placements into
feedlots were down 611,000
head and marketings were
down 618,000 head year over
year, according to NASS.
The July 1 cattle inventory
does show more feeder cattle
outside feedlots, up about 1.8
percent. More feeder cattle are
in the pipeline, but the major-
ity of the increase is new-crop
calves that won’t be placed
in feedlots until late this year
and into next year, he said.
hat started as a
college class as-
signment result-
ed in a new and successful
enterprise for the Roseland
family ranch near Seneca,
S.D.
The Roseland ranch
was one of several live-
stock operations visited
on a tour that was part of
the National Association
of County Agricultural
Agents’ Annual Meeting
and Professional Improve-
ment Conference in South
Dakota in mid-July.
Three generations of the
Roseland family operate
the 18,000-acre diversi-
fied farming and ranching
operation. Sal Roseland
is the fifth generation of
the family involved in the
ranch, which is in north
central South Dakota. The
Roseland ranch was home-
steaded in 1881 by Sal’s
great-great-grandparents,
Gabriel and Elizabeth
Roseland, who were sec-
ond generation immigrants
from Norway.
When Sal graduated
from college in 2002, he
brought home a business
development plan he had
created in a college class.
It was to add a pheasant
hunting business to the
ranch operation. At first
his idea met with some
resistance from his father
and grandfather. With a
loan from a local banker,
Sal put his plan into op-
eration and started R&R
Pheasant Hunting. A thriv-
ing business venture was
set into motion. Now,
pheasant and other small
bird hunting are available
to customers from early
September through March
each year.
After a small start, two
lodges for hunters were
built and staff was hired
to help with meals and
housekeeping duties. After
13 years of operation, the
business
accommodates
Greener
Pastures
Doug Warnock
500 to 600 hunters per year
as well as offseason cater-
ing for wedding parties,
anniversaries and fami-
ly gatherings. Sal’s wife,
Kelly, manages the hospi-
tality part of the hunting
enterprise.
The Roselands use about
6,000 acres of their farm
for pheasant habitat and
hunting. They specialize
in serving South Dakota
grown products and local
beef to their hunter guests.
Their aim is to provide
guests with a memorable
experience. Their hospital-
ity and special treatment of
clients has resulted in them
having a great reputation in
the industry and they have
many return customers. It
was significant that during
the economic downturn of
2008, their hunting busi-
ness grew.
In addition to running
the hunting enterprise,
Sal manages the 1,000-
head beef cattle herd. Sal’s
dad, Steve, and his broth-
er, Slade, run the farming
operation, which consists
of raising small grains,
corn, milo, alfalfa and oth-
er crops. Many of the crop
by-products are utilized
as feed for the Roselands’
beef cattle. Cattle also
make use of the ranch’s
native grasslands.
R&R Pheasant Hunting
is a great example of how a
creative idea coupled with
hard work and dedication
can result in a successful
agri-tourism business.
Doug Warnock, retired
from Washington State
University Extension, lives
on a ranch in the Touchet
River Valley where he
writes about and teaches
grazing management. He
can be contacted at dwar-
nockgreenerpastures@
gmail.com.
Egg industry struggles to recover from bird flu; prices likely to rise
By ZANE SPARLING
Capital Press
Commercial egg prices
reached a new high for the year
July 23, despite the 38-day gap
since the last case of bird flu was
reported in the U.S.
A dozen Grade A large eggs
were selling for $2.69 on the
wholesale market, according to
a market researcher, more than
double the asking price before
the epidemic ravaged the indus-
try, killing 30.3 million egg-lay-
ing hens in Iowa alone.
Nationally, infections of
H5N2 avian influenza — com-
monly known as bird flu — led
to the death of more than 48 mil-
lion chickens and turkeys across
15 states. The last known inci-
dent occurred in Iowa on June
16.
The egg market has experi-
enced several recent cost fluctu-
ations. When the egg plague was
still ongoing, wholesale prices
climbed to a near peak of $2.62
a dozen on May 29. Prices then
stayed flat until June 19, before
diving precipitously to $2.01 a
dozen on July 9. The price has
since recovered to $2.69 for
Grade A large eggs.
“Demand slowed down,
and now it’s going back up”
Urner Barry egg reporter Bri-
an Moscogiuri said Thursday.
“Consumers are getting a little
more comfortable with the high-
er price.”
Moscogiuri said consumers
tend to “trade up” when generic
egg prices rise. That trend led to
increased sales for cage-free and
branded eggs, which typically
sell at a flat price regardless of
generic prices. Since then, con-
sumers have acclimated to the
higher price point for regular
Grade As.
All affected producers have
finished depopulating their
farms, and most have finished
Centers for Disease Con-
trol-mandated cleaning proce-
dures, according to United Egg
Producers CEO Chad Gregory.
That process alone can take
weeks, as barns must be disin-
fected, heated to high tempera-
tures and then sit empty for 21
days — the incubation period
for the virus — before CDC ap-
proval is granted.
Clean certification is no
guarantee of production. Chick
hatcheries have had trouble
ratcheting up production to meet
the extraordinary demand.
“Those farms have to start
their clocks over, and that clock
typically takes 18 months,”
Gregory said. “If in fact the vi-
rus does not return next spring,
I think there will be some confu-
sion by consumers as to why the
prices may still be higher.”
Young hens, or pullets, do
not lay any eggs for the first 18
weeks of their lifespan. Most
hens are culled after about 95
weeks, and farmers must stagger
the age of their hens in order to
produce a consistent number of
eggs each day.
Market analysts say prices
will almost certainly rise in the
fourth quarter, which begins
before Thanksgiving and ends
with Christmas. Both holidays
spur higher egg demand, most-
ly due to increased baking at
home.
What no one can say, how-
ever, is whether the bird flu will
return with the cold weather in
the fall. While epidemiologists
believe wild birds are respon-
sible for carrying the virus into
new areas, new evidence sug-
gests H5N2 may have been
spread from farm to farm by air.
The USDA is prepping for a
worst-case scenario that would
involve up to 500 infections
across all major flyways.
Capital Press file photo
Commercial egg prices reached a new high for the year July 23. A dozen Grade A large eggs were
selling for $2.69 on the wholesale market, according to a market researcher, more than double the
asking price before the bird flu epidemic ravaged the industry.
31-4/#5